Why F1 racing in 2017 is doomed – Part 1

The F1 car launch season is now fully underway and fans are in a state of high anticipation whipped up by the promise from Christian Horner et al of a new breed of racing beasts.

So will the season ahead live up to its premier billing?

Well, the signs so far are not good.

After yet another ‘transitional year’ for the great Red Team, 2017 brings once again great hope for the Tifosi. But, mutterings from Maranello via the Italian media are not promising.

Age old Ferrari issues are again resurfacing as engineers scratch their heads over the significant differences between simulated aerodynamic performance and the actual numbers. If this discrepancy becomes evident to us all when the car hits the track in Barcelona, the season long prognosis will be bleak indeed.

James Allison leaving Ferrari HQ is now being seen by some disgruntled souls as a good thing. Thus the blame is already being apportioned for the new Ferrari ‘truck’ masquerading as Sebastian Vettel’s racing chariot.

Mercedes have a different impression of Allison’s abilities.

All this chaos meant that by stealth – the eminent but ageing Rory Byrne was recalled from his umpteenth retirement from F1 to solve Maranello’s woes. Yet no one knows whether this has in fact helped and even the bravado of the irrepressible Sergio Marchionne remains surprisingly silent for now.

In an attempt to distract us from the car named code 668 – which is 666 plus 2 – Ferrari PR have been wooing us with talk of an all new 1000 HP power unit with an excess of 750 KW available due to new increased fuel allowances.

As a lover of bigger and better, may I be the first to congratulate the ‘A’ division at Ferrari HQ – but posit the thought,that this is all for nought – unless of course Brackley’s engineers en masse were tricked into pricking their fingers and drew blood at the Christmas bash. Only this Sleeping Beauty scenario will surely see Ferrari catch the Silver Arrows on power this season.

That said, the sheer desperation to push on with more power, may produce the delicious retro sight of many broken Ferrari’s stranded against the race barrier with plumes of fire rising from the engine cover. This for many of us ‘old uns’ will conjure up visions of the golden era of Formula One.

If the Italian media sources close to Maranello are to be believed, Mercedes will have nothing to fear from Ferrari this year – other than being caught in the back draught of a withering expulsion from Sebastian Vettel’s potty mouth, when he realises by the start of the European season that it’s all over for yet another year.

I do think people need to go a bit easier on the chat about JA given th circumstances under which he left the team. I think it is in poor taste to say anyone is glad to see the back of him, or words to that effect, and I haven’t actually heard anyone expressing that view, thankfully. There’s no denying (unless you’re bitter) that the guy has done good work in the past and the fact is he wasn’t at Ferrari long enough this time round to fully design the car so we don’t know what he could have achieved there. He has become a double ended short straw for Ferrari fans in that they claim to not have gotten anywhere because he left (excuse) but that he wasn’t up to much anyway (trying to save face).
It’s all, essentially, to cover their ass. The fact that we’re not getting any of the spectacular mutterings that were coming out this time last year about being title contenders etc. They were giving it large and it never even remotely came to fruition, of course they will be keen to avoid that again. The board and all the fans waited with baited breath for the whole year for the promised win that never came.
I think Red Bull are our best bet for a bit of competition for Mercedes – on the assumption that Newey will play a blinder with the new aero regs to the extent is can negate…ok that’s a bit keen, maybe to the extent that it can damped their PU advantage. It would be great if Ferrari had managed to get their act together and could cause them some grief as well, the more the merrier up front.
We shall see!

Helps if you look at JA’s time at Ferrari and even come sidereal his previous years .

He was an aerodynamicist at Ferrari between 1999 and 2004. This was working under Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn.

He joined Renault for 2005 and worked under Bob Bell. Once again not the overall boss.

He rejoined Ferrari in the autumn of 2013 so had no input in to the 2014 design. His first design would be the 2015 car which also received an updated engine.

His second design was the 2016 car…

1) when he was TD at Lotus, his budget was small compared to Ferrari but his cars had a 3rd place turn of speed. Too easy on the tyres and at the front end of the grid. But considering they were using the same engine as Red Bull – nothing extraordinary.
2) his leadership at Ferrari provided the Maranello concern with a car that had a top 3 turn of pace. Again too easy on the tyres and in 2016 this part time employee was telling Sergio that Ferrari’s numbers would make them challengers.

Of course a partner passing is tragic and Ferrari were willing to give him all the time he needed but the British press stating he had kids to look after when they were all of university age and above was misdirection. Perhaps even more annoyingly is the fact that Italians are famed for their close family ties.

Something that Marchionne won’t deal with is bullshit and JA was given an ultimatum after Marchionne had spoken to Brawn.

Ross had indicated that a TD needs 24/7 dedication to succeed. JA left

You say the cars are too easy on the tires… This baffles me with the Ferrari because they were having to run fairly similar pit strategies most of last year to the rest of the field, not dramatically different IIRC. I’m wondering if your comment is alluding to the fact that Ferrari don’t have the non-FRIC-FRIC suspension that Mercedes and RB are running? This would seem to be the key way to get more out of the tires and work them harder, work them into their windows, and keep them more consistent.

Now why Ferrari hasn’t developed a non-FRIC-FRIC is a big question; they tried to protest instead but to no avail.